Everything on table in retooling Bears defense

They could turn to 3-4 defense and shift defensive end Shea McClellin as they evaluate needs and personnel piece by piece

January 02, 2014|By Dan Wiederer, Tribune reporter

Game by game. Series by series. Piece by piece.

Bears coach Marc Trestman knows no other way to shape his informed and definitive conclusions on the season that just finished without taking it apart.

Play by play. Person by person.

After a 2013 season in which the Bears defense was historically bad, allowing a franchise-record 6,313 total yards, Trestman and general manager Phil Emery acknowledged Thursday that they face a long list of critical questions as they attempt to push their team back toward the top of the NFC.

Could Mel Tucker be out soon as defensive coordinator? Perhaps.

Might the Bears consider a scheme change, ditching their 4-3 defense for a more versatile and disruptive 3-4 attack? They might.

Is it possible Shea McClellin, the team's top draft pick in 2012, will see his role and position altered to help bring out his best? Yes.

"Everything is on the table," Trestman said.

So stay tuned.

Yes, the Bears had one landmark announcement Thursday with a big new contract finalized for Jay Cutler, locking the quarterback up through the 2020 season. But unless Trestman and Emery can find long-term solutions to steady their defense, all the fireworks from Cutler and an increasingly prolific offense may lead the Bears only back to where they just finished — at .500 and out of the playoffs.

The Bears hear the outside cries demanding they begin their corrections process with the dismissal of Tucker. And with a chance to back the coordinator and cement his return for 2014, both Trestman and Emery sidestepped, wanting more time to assess fully why their defense fell apart.

"We want to make sure we're making mindful decisions," Trestman said, insisting that wasn't a sign of Tucker's imminent doom.

Trestman long has praised Tucker's intellect and communication skills. And in the coordinator's defense, Tucker was forced to hold together a unit that saw five opening day starters miss a combined 43 games to injuries.

That, Trestman said, has to be considered. Especially as he pores over film from September, when the Bears created 11 turnovers and scored three defensive touchdowns in a 3-0 start.

"The defensive team that started the season," Trestman said, "was a Mel Tucker-coached defense, a Mel Tucker-coached defense that created havoc on the offenses we played."

Trestman craves a defense with speed, with urgency, with disruption at the line of scrimmage.

"Through the first three games we had that," Emery said. "We had a defense that was flying around to the ball. We had a defense that was creating turnovers. We had a defense that was scoring. We had a defense that was being disruptive."

Yet there were 13 games beyond that. And as injuries mounted, the Bears never found lasting solutions to reverse their slide. They finished 30th in yards allowed (394.7 per game), were last against the run (161.4) by a wide margin and only had 31 sacks.

Worst of all, with two chances to clinch the NFC North, the defense fell on its face. First, the Bears allowed 514 total yards in an embarrassing 54-11 loss to the Eagles, a meltdown Trestman still hasn't figured out after the defense seemed to steady itself in preceding victories over the Cowboys and Browns.

"But that went completely south in the Philadelphia game," Trestman said. "And we're going to do more to evaluate that game and why it went south."

Sunday against Green Bay, the Bears' defense had two more fatal breakdowns in their season-ending loss, allowing the Packers to score their first touchdown on an Aaron Rodgers fumble that no defender picked up and later surrendering a last-minute 48-yard touchdown pass over the top of blown coverage.

Now everything is back on the table. And as plans crystallize, Emery promises the Bears will get younger on defense, attacking the draft and free agency accordingly.

And if Tucker's future remains uncertain, so too is the structure of the defense with curiosity seemingly growing at Halas Hall over a potential shift to a 3-4.

"We have to create more confusion pre-snap and more disruption post-snap on the opposing quarterback," Emery said.

Still, that's another decision that will require time with the Bears needing to make certain they can find the right personnel mix to consider such a shift.

Said cornerback Tim Jennings: "It's definitely something we could handle."

Emery also admitted a better niche must be found for McClellin, who had minimal impact as a defensive end this season, failing to record a sack in 13 games.

"We have to find ways to use (his) unique talents and skills," Emery said. "Putting him at defensive end, that's on me, not giving him the ultimate opportunity to succeed."

Little by little, the Bears are measuring their needed overhauls — especially on defense. The offseason arrived too early. Now comes a critical stage of critical assessment with much urgency but no deadlines set.